Jews Acre, Bristol

[[File:Jewrie Lane.jpg|thumb|left|The Old Jewry (Jewrie Lane) in Bristol lay about a mile from the cemetery, in the centre of the city.]]

[[File:Jewrie Lane.jpg|thumb|left|The Old Jewry (Jewrie Lane) in Bristol lay about a mile from the cemetery, in the centre of the city.]]

[[File:The ould Jurie 1640.jpg|thumb|left|'The ould Jurie': Bristol street name recorded in a 1640 rental]]

[[File:The ould Jurie 1640.jpg|thumb|left|'The ould Jurie': Bristol street name recorded in a 1640 rental]]

The '''Jews Acre''' (alias Jews Churchyard) in [[Cliftonwood]], [[Bristol]], [[England]] was the burial ground of Bristol's medieval Jewish community from the late 12th century until the [[Edict_of_Expulsion|expulsion of the Jews]] from England in 1290.<ref>[https://bristolandavonarchaeology.org.uk/app/uploads/2021/01/vol-22.pdf Joe Hillaby and Richard Sermon, 'Jacob's Well, Bristol: Further Research', ''Bristol and Avon Archaeology'', 22 (2007), 97-106]</ref> Bristol's jews lived a mile east in the centre of the town, initially around the head of the harbour - an area that was later known as the Old Jewry. It was one of England's smaller Jewish communities, never exceeding about fifteen households. If the average household had five people, the mean population would have been about seventy-five people. Life expectancy at birth in pre-modern societies rarely exceed forty, with at least 2.5 per cent of any community dying each year.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=T4DLK7zLxYMC&pg=PR7 H. O. Lancaster, ''Expectations of life: a study in the demography, statistics, and history of world mortality'' (1990)] </ref> That would imply about two interments per year in the cemetery.

The '''Jews Acre''' (alias Jews Churchyard) in [[Cliftonwood]], [[Bristol]], [[England]] was the burial ground of Bristol's medieval Jewish community from the late 12th century until the [[Edict_of_Expulsion|expulsion of the Jews]] from England in 1290.<ref>[https://bristolandavonarchaeology.org.uk/app/uploads/2021/01/vol-22.pdf Joe Hillaby and Richard Sermon, 'Jacob's Well, Bristol: Further Research', ''Bristol and Avon Archaeology'', 22 (2007), 97-106]</ref> Bristol's Jews lived a mile east in the centre of the town, initially around the head of the harbour - an area that was later known as the Old Jewry. It was one of England's smaller Jewish communities, never exceeding about fifteen households. If the average household had five people, the mean population would have been about seventy-five people. Life expectancy at birth in pre-modern societies rarely exceed forty, with at least 2.5 per cent of any community dying each year.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=T4DLK7zLxYMC&pg=PR7 H. O. Lancaster, ''Expectations of life: a study in the demography, statistics, and history of world mortality'' (1990)] </ref> That would imply about two interments per year in the cemetery.

Jews Acre is associated with [[Jacob%27s Well, Bristol|Jacob's Well]], which lies about a hundred metres further down the valley. The well is believed to have been a ''bet tohorah'' (ritual bath) where corpses were washed prior to interment in the cemetery.<ref>[https://www.bgas.org.uk/tbgas_bg/v122/bg122127.pdf J. Hillaby and R. Sermon, Jacob's Well, Bristol: Mikveh or Bet Tohorah?, ''Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society'' 122 (2004) 127–152]</ref> After a body had been buried, those involved would also have used the water from the well to ritually purify themselves.

Jews Acre is associated with [[Jacob%27s Well, Bristol|Jacob's Well]], which lies about a hundred metres further down the valley. The well is believed to have been a ''bet tohorah'' (ritual bath) where corpses were washed prior to interment in the cemetery.<ref>[https://www.bgas.org.uk/tbgas_bg/v122/bg122127.pdf J. Hillaby and R. Sermon, Jacob's Well, Bristol: Mikveh or Bet Tohorah?, ''Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society'' 122 (2004) 127–152]</ref> After a body had been buried, those involved would also have used the water from the well to ritually purify themselves.